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Mosaddek Hossain made 81 to set up Bangladesh Under-19s’ comfortable win over England Under-19s in Chittagong

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jan-2012
ScorecardMosaddek Hossain made 81 to set up Bangladesh Under-19s’ comfortable win over England Under-19s in Chittagong. Bangladesh were asked to bat first and a partnership of 114 between Mosaddek and Al-Amin helped them to a total that England never looked like chasing.Mosaddek struck 11 fours in his innings, from 84 balls, and built what proved to be the match-winning stand with Al-Amin, whose 50 came from 41 balls before he became the first of three wickets for England seamer Shozair Ali. Ali then ran out Noor Hossain, without him facing a ball, as England fought back with four wickets for two runs and Ali finished with 3 for 58.England’s chase included contributions from Daniel Bell-Drummond, who made 55 at the top of the order, and Ben Foakes, who came in at three and made 32 from 22 balls. Both players fell to the legspin of Noor. He went on to take 4 for 31 as England lost too many cheap wickets; Aneesh Kapil’s 43, which included two sixes, came too late to save the innings.

Australia’s young fast bowling spearhead James Pattinson is out of the remainder of the Test series against India after scans revealed the early signs of stress fractures in the metatarsal bone of his left foot

Daniel Brettig06-Jan-2012Australia’s young fast-bowling spearhead James Pattinson is out of the remainder of the Test series against India after scans revealed the early signs of stress fractures in the metatarsal bone of his left foot.He has been replaced in the squad for the Perth Test by Mitchell Starc – the only change to the squad that was selected for Sydney. Ryan Harris is favoured to win a recall to the XI after making his own return to fitness.Pattinson bowled throughout the Sydney Test but complained of pain in his left foot towards the end of the match. Scans revealed the injury, which the team physio Alex Kountouris called an “early stage bone stress injury of the metatarsal bone of the left foot”.”He will be managed carefully over the next few weeks and will not be available for the remainder of the Test series,” Kountouris said.John Inverarity, the national selector, said his panel had already considered resting Pattinson for the WACA Test after he played four Tests in little more than a month since his debut against New Zealand in Brisbane.”The intention of the National Selection Panel was to rest James from the Perth Test match as this young man has played in four Test matches over a period of just five weeks,” Inverarity said. “This intention has become a necessity after post-match scans have revealed James’ foot injury.”Pattinson’s injury is a serious blow to Australia, given that in those four Tests he has taken 25 wickets at 18.12, while also impressing considerably with the bat. It also continues an unsettling run of injuries for young fast bowlers. Pat Cummins, who made an equally remarkable introduction against South Africa in Johannesburg in November, is missing the entirety of the home Test summer due to a heel injury.At the other end of the age scale is Harris, who would now appear certain to return to the XI for the Perth Test, after battling a hip problem and then building up his fitness for Test cricket with an intensive training regimen through December.Before Pattinson’s injury was known, Clarke said Harris’ recall as part of a pace quartet was a genuine option – he had also flirted with the idea before the Sydney match.”It is an option, there will certainly be at least four fast bowlers in our squad for Perth, and we’ll assess conditions once we get there,” Clarke said. “I’m hoping that wicket is similar to what we played on against England last summer, where it’s got a lot of pace and bounce and some sideways movement. If that’s the case there’s an option there [to play four quicks], but I always love to have a spinner in the team, and I continue to say that I think Nathan Lyon is doing a really good job for this team.”Clarke’s run as captain has been made far more agreeable by the presence of an effective pace attack, and he said the group’s collective ability to place pressure on India’s batsmen had been significant to the results so far.”We have [several] guys who can get a breakthrough, that’s one of the most pleasing things for a captain,” he said. “You can turn to any one of our bowlers to try and take a wicket, so that makes life easier for me. We’re able to build up pressure – at the moment, we’re bowling a lot of dot balls, bowling a lot of maidens, we’re restricting the scoring and I think that is what’s getting us wickets.”It’s not necessarily a one-off delivery that is getting somebody out. Against very good players you have to be able to build up pressure – if you think one-off balls are going to get six or seven of the best batsmen in the world out, you’re in for a rude shock. So you need the whole team and the whole bowling attack performing, and that’s what we’re doing at the moment.”

A round-up of the action from the fourth day of the eighth round of matches in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Division One 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Nov-2011State Bank of Pakistan and Habib Bank Limited were involved in a thrilling encounter at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad. SBP prevailed by 12 runs after HBL began the day with a good chance of sealing victory. HBL were set a target of 246 but will rue the fact that their batsmen didn’t carry on to get big scores despite getting starts. Out of nine double-digit scores in their batting order, only opener Ahmed Shehzad managed a half-century, top-scoring with 77. Left-arm medium-pacer Rizwan Haider bagged 7 for 42, his best first-class figures, to bowl out HBL for 233. HBL perhaps were evenly placed at 220 for 7 but Haider struck to ensure they didn’t meet their target. With five wins in eight games, SBP are placed second in the points table.In another closely-fought encounter, Pakistan International Airlines edged out National Bank of Pakistan by three wickets at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot. PIA would have backed themselves to chase down a target of 259 by the end of the game and achieved the result they desired thanks to some useful contributions. Opener Agha Sabir made 74 and though a successful chase looked difficult with the score on 160 for 6 at one stage, an unbeaten 51 from Shoaib Khan snr, an important contribution of 30 from No.9 Ali Imran and a handy, unbeaten 16 from Anwar Ali saw PIA through. From 160 for 6, they managed to recover to 214 for 7 and the unbeaten eighth-wicket pair added 45 to seal victory. PIA are currently placed third in the table.The contest between Water and Power Development Authority and Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited meandered towards a draw on the final day at the National Ground in Islamabad, with the latter taking home the points after gaining a first-innings lead. ZTBL had done well to gain a first-innings lead, though WAPDA responded strongly in the second innings, the No.3 batsman Rafatullah Mohmand getting a century and Aamer Sajjad making 73. WAPDA declared at 425 for 7, and set their opponents a target of 303 but a solid batting performance ensured ZTBL survived the 30 overs bowled at them, courtesy half-centuries from captain Imran Nazir and Yasir Hameed. ZTBL remained at the top of the table at the end of the round, with five wins from eight games and with 48 points.Islamabad ensured they batted out day four to take first-innings points against Abbottabad at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium. The hosts had conceded a significant first-innings lead and Islamabad ensured there wasn’t much room for them to fight back on the final day of the game. Islamabad began the day on 198 for 2 and they finished the game on 526 for 8. Though their overnight batsmen, Zeeshan Mushtaq and opener Umair Khan, fell in quick succession on the fourth day, Ali Sarfraz, wicketkeeper Zohaib Ahmed and No.8 batsman Faizan Riaz, who scored a run-a-ball 88, extended the Islamabad lead to 575 at the end of day four.Karachi Blues thrashed Faisalabad by 235 runs at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad. Faisalabad began the day on 18 for 1, chasing 356 for victory but a collective bowling effort from Karachi denied them. The seamers Tanvir Ahmed and Mohammad Sami shared five wickets and so did spinners Azam Hussain and Atif Maqbool. Only Mohammad Salman, the wicketkeeper for Faisalabad, managed to put up any significant resistance, top-scoring with 38 but the innings folded for 120.

Somerset strengthened their grip at the top of the Clydesdale Bank 40 Group C table as they coasted to a six-wicket triumph over Essex at Southend

31-Jul-2011Somerset 141 for 4 beat Essex 140 for 0 by six wickets
ScorecardSomerset strengthened their grip at the top of the Clydesdale Bank 40 Group C table as they coasted to a six-wicket triumph over Essex at Southend.Replying to a total of 140 for 9, they claimed success with 10.1 overs to spare. It was not all plain sailing at the start of their innings, however. On a pitch that encouraged the spinners, run making was never easy and Somerset lost three wickets before the 50 was raised.Craig Kieswetter and Peter Trego fell to left arm spinner Tim Phillips while Marcus Trescothick drove off-spinner Tom Westley to mid-on where David Masters held a fine catch. But Murali Kartik and Nick Compton put Somerset back in charge.Without having to take risks, they kept the scoreboard ticking over at just under five an over while adding 66 to take the total to 113. The stand was broken when Kartik, having made 40 from 53 balls that included five fours and one six, despatched Phillips to mid-off.But Compton and James Hildreth, with 29 and 18 not out respectively, made sure victory was claimed without further problems. Phillips finished with three for 28 from seven overs. Essex never threatened to post a challenging total after winning the toss.They lost openers Mark Pettini and Adam Wheater with only six on the board and by the end of the 10th over had scored only 22 while suffering a further setback, the dismissal Owais Shah.By then Essex were left relying heavily on Ravi Bopara to sustain them. The acting skipper was not found wanting in determination but the accuracy of the Somerset bowling ensured he was never able to break free.Indeed, he only managed one boundary from his 61 deliveries during which he top scored with 35. Bopara departed when Jos Buttler took a fine low catch at mid-wicket when trying to force the pace against seamer Craig Meschede.He was the only batsman in the top seven to get beyond 14 until Graham Napier, who struck the only six of the innings, went on to make 29.All six bowlers used by Somerset got among the wickets, the most successful were the two left arm spinners Kartik and Arul Suppiah who picked up two for 24 and two for 29 respectively from their allocation of eight overs.

Half centuries from their top four batsman powered the Bangladesh national side to a massive 311 which proved too much for the A team despite a century from Naeem Islam

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Sep-2011
Scorecard
Naeem Islam’s unbeaten 101 wasn’t enough to chase down Bangladesh’s massive total•BCBHalf-centuries from their top four batsman powered the Bangladesh national side to a massive 311 which proved too much for the A team despite a century from Naeem Islam in a rain-shortened match in Mirpur.After being sent in, Bangladesh’s openers made contrasting fifties, with Tamim Iqbal scoring at nearly a run-a-ball while Shahriar Nafees contributed a more patient effort. Both were dismissed in the space of two overs by the offspin of Mahmudullah but the national side didn’t squander the base provided by the openers. Mohammad Ashraful and captain Mushfiqur Rahim both made quick half-centuries as they put on 130 in 18.2 overs. The partnership ensured that despite a glut of wickets towards the end of the innings, Bangladesh posted a total in excess of 300.Rain then curtailed the chase to a 39-over affair, with the target revised to 271. The A team’s reply was hampered by a couple of early strikes by medium-pacer Rubel Hossain. Opener Junaid Siddique (45) and Naeem then steadied the innings with a 66-run stand but their slow scoring pushed the required-rate beyond nine by the 20th over. Naeem continued to fight, and remained unbeaten on 101, but there was little support for him from those who followed and the national side won comfortably.

Ben Stokes rewrote Durham’s one-day record books with a superb unbeaten 150 but still finished up on the losing side after Warwickshire stepped up their defence of their Clydesdale Bank 40 title at Edgbaston

22-May-2011
ScorecardBen Stokes rewrote Durham’s one-day record books with a superb unbeaten 150 but still finished up on the losing side after Warwickshire stepped up their defence of their Clydesdale Bank 40 title at Edgbaston.Stokes’ innings was the highest by a Durham batsman in one-day cricket, surpassing the 145 that former England batsman John Morris made against Leicestershire in a Benson and Hedges Cup match 16 years ago.However, Warwickshire’s batsmen also enjoyed themselves on a flat pitch to seal a seven-wicket win. Ireland captain William Porterfield and Varun Chopra launched the run chase with an opening stand of 144 in 18 overs and Mohammad Yousuf and Darren Maddy accelerated Warwickshire to their fourth win in six matches with an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 109.Chopra passed 1,000 runs in all cricket this season in his stylish 80, made from just 70 balls – although he was outscored by Porterfield, who turned a 30-ball 50 into 84 from just 51 balls. Last week Porterfield and Chopra shared a Warwickshire one-day record opening stand of 189 against Leicestershire – and a severely-depleted Durham attack was no match for them today.Durham managed to dislodge the openers and Jim Troughton but there was no respite for their bowlers as Yousuf swept Warwickshire to victory with 21 balls to spare, with a brutal unbeaten 74 from 55 balls. The visitors’ total of 286 for three was their highest one-day score against Warwickshire and it owed much to Stokes and support from Gordon Muchall and Dale Benkenstein.Muchall passed 50 for the fifth time in six matches this season and shared a third-wicket stand of 157 in 24 over with Stokes before he holed out to long-on aiming for his second six. Benkenstein played a resourceful innings, with 42 not out from 27 balls, while Stokes was at his most aggressive.The 19-year-old left-hander used superb timing and brute strength to flay a toiling Warwickshire attack as he accelerated a run-a-ball half-century to an 88-ball century and 150 from just 113 balls when he scrambled a single from the last ball of the innings.His seven sixes included an audacious reverse paddle off slow left-armer Paul Best, which landed halfway up the Eric Hollies Stand. Stokes, who toured the West Indies with England Lions earlier this year, also drove Maddy for a six out of the ground over long-on in an innings of controlled aggression.

After two days of excitement on the best surface produced for this season’s Ranji quarter-finals, UP are still not out, but they are not in it by much either

The Report by Abhishek Purohit in Indore07-Jan-2013
ScorecardFile photo: Piyush Chawla was reduced to bowling flat and quick as Services batsmen took the attack to him•ESPNcricinfo LtdThe underdog continued to bite chunks out of the big opponent’s reputation on day two in Indore. In the morning, young Rajat Paliwal played probably the innings of his short career to give Services a lead of 129 on a difficult pitch. As Uttar Pradesh resisted in their second innings the way a top side should, fast bowler Suraj Yadav squeezed out four wickets through sheer relentlessness. After two days of excitement on the best surface produced for this season’s Ranji quarter-finals, the best side of the league stage are still not out, but they are not in it by much either.Services had earned a narrow lead by stumps on day one with positive, unhindered batting. They raised the bar on the second morning. Knowing that a batsman was never in on the green, bouncy Holkar Stadium pitch, they attacked at the slightest opportunity. The efforts of Paliwal and Sarabjit Singh, whose partnership doubled the score from 97 for 5, brought 109 runs in just over two hours.The duo was beaten repeatedly outside off stump, especially Sarabjit and their gloves were battered by short balls – Paliwal had a large, bulging blister on his right forefinger – but the boundaries still came. A flail over slips by Sarabjit; a slash over gully and an upper-cut over the third-man boundary by Paliwal.Even as Services raced towards 200, Ankit Rajpoot, in his first over of the day, had Sarabjit edging one low to Mohammad Kaif at first slip on 40. Yadav edged a lifter to the wicketkeeper next ball, and with an injured captain, Soumik Chatterjee, doubtful to bat, there wasn’t much batting left. Which is when Paliwal opened up further.He also began to farm the strike, taking singles towards the end of overs. When Piyush Chawla was introduced, Paliwal drilled his first ball to the deep extra-cover boundary, pulled the legspinner over midwicket for four and in the same over, lofted him for a flat six over extra cover.By now, Paliwal was unstoppable. He played the hook liberally as UP overdid the short stuff, and lofted Rajpoot to the straight boundary to reach his fourth hundred of the season. Chawla, for the umpteenth time in his career reduced to bowling flat and quick, was taken for successive fours even by No 10 Shadab Nazar.What this match meant to Services was evident when Chatterjee limped out after Nazar was bowled by a Rajpoot yorker. The Services captain was caught in front first ball to give Rajpoot his fifth, but there was no doubting Services’ desperation in a rare knockout game for them.UP had to face about three overs before lunch, which was taken during the third when Mukul Dagar was given caught behind pushing forward to Yadav. Kaif, the stand-in UP captain, and Srivastava now battled, just like Sarabjit and Paliwal had. They were beaten repeatedly as well but hung on.As a rather harsh winter sun shone on the ground, Services’ attack, comprising just three fast bowlers and a part-time medium-pacer, started flagging. But Yadav somehow summoned the energy to produce successive wicket-taking deliveries.Kaif, who had survived three lbw appeals in a Nishan Singh over, was caught in front on 33 by one that drew him forward and straightened past the bat. Yadav did it again next ball, a similar delivery zipping past Parvinder Singh’s push to flatten the off stump.UP would have sunk further had Yadav not overstepped while having Srivastava caught behind on 32. Srivastava had been calmly leaving them outside off all this while, and along with the solid Arish Alam, steadied UP again. Yadav had more reserves left still. He dug one in at Srivastava late in the day, the opener was snapped up by the keeper again, and this time, it was a legal delivery.UP had played a spinning allrounder in Chawla and a spinner in Ali Murtaza on a grassy wicket, which meant it was the last batting pair of Alam and Eklavya Dwivedi at the crease now. The pair took UP into the lead, which at effectively 9 for 4 isn’t much of a lead.

In his first statement after the spot-fixing verdict was announced on Saturday, Mohammmad Asif has said that he is contemplating his options in the wake of his ban

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Feb-2011In his first statement after the spot-fixing verdict was announced on Saturday, Mohammmad Asif has said that he is contemplating a response after being banned for seven years by the ICC three-man tribunal. “Mohammad Asif has co-operated fully with the ICC investigation, and is very disappointed and upset by the decision it reached,” said a statement issued by his London-based lawyers, Addleshaw Goddard.”Together with his legal representatives, he is now considering his response, and will not be commenting further due to the ongoing criminal proceedings.”The tribunal had also banned Salman Butt for ten years and Mohammad Amir for five years after a hearing in Doha on charges of being involved in the bowling of deliberate no-balls during the fourth Test against England last year. While Amir has said that he will file an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the tribunal’s decision, Butt will be taking the advice of his barrister Yasin Patel to decide whether he will appeal or not. That decision will be made in the next few days. The players have 21 days to appeal against the ICC sanctions at the CAS based in Lausanne, Switzerland.The situation is likely to further develop after the trio receive the full written judgments tomorrow, giving the reasoning behind the verdict – and also the evidence, put together by the ICC’s legal team, that it was based on.Separately, the three players have also been charged by the UK Crown Prosecution Service with conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, and conspiracy to cheat, and have been summoned to appear in a London court on March 17.

ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL game between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals at Eden Gardens

The Preview by Siddarth Ravindran16-Apr-2011Match factsSunday, April 17
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Rajasthan need to find a way to shackle Kolkata’s batting•AFPBig pictureLast Monday, little more than a third of Eden Gardens was filled for Kolkata Knight Riders’ first home game. Nothing, though, gets the fans behind an IPL team like a few wins, and the combination of two straightforward victories for Kolkata, reduced ticket prices and the Sunday evening start should draw a bigger crowd for the match against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday.The two teams faced off in Jaipur on Friday, an encounter which Kolkata dominated through the solid, keep-it-simple batting of Jacques Kallis and captain Gautam Gambhir. The two put on an unbroken 152 for the second wicket, the second-largest partnership in IPLs. Kolkata’s strongest suit is their batting; they have the luxury of Eoin Morgan, Yusuf Pathan and Shakib Al Hasan in the middle order in case their experienced players at the top flop.Rajasthan need to figure out a way to shackle the batting might of Kolkata, perhaps by including Shaun Tait who will provide a cutting edge to their attack. They also need to work out where to play Shane Watson after their decision to use him in the middle order on Friday didn’t quite work out. Shane Warne admitted that the biggest hitters in his side, Watson and Ross Taylor, didn’t get enough overs in the middle to decisively influence the game. With Ashok Menaria showing he has the ability to muscle the spinners, and Taylor also lurking in the middle order, perhaps Rajasthan will be tempted to push Watson to the opener’s slot or No. 3 to give him more time in the middle.Team talkJohan Botha picked up a finger injury on Friday, which prevented him from taking the new ball. It’s still not clear whether it is serious enough to rule him out of Sunday’s match, but even if it does heal he might find himself benched as Rajasthan could pick Tait instead, to provide more of a wicket-taking threat.With their new arrivals, Brett Lee and Shakib, turning in acceptable performances on Friday, Ryan ten Doeschate is likely to remain sidelined. Kolkata won’t experiment much with their line-up, except perhaps to include Bengal allrounder Laxmi Shukla in place of Delhi’s Rajat Bhatia.Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team selector.In the spotlightJust as he did for his previous team Royal Challengers Bangalore, Jacques Kallis is providing stability at the top of the order and proving that he can be relied on to bowl a full quota of overs. In a tournament where the fielding standard has been pretty low, his safe hands in the outfield are a bonus. He has been Man of the Match in one game, and a plausible contender for the award in the other two Kolkata have played.As usual, Rajasthan have put their faith in a clutch of low-profile Indians; in the game against Kolkata on Friday they had six players without international experience. Of those, Ashok Menaria looks the brightest prospect; he was India’s Under-19 captain in the 2010 World Cup, smashed centuries in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals of the Ranji Trophy this season, and his naturally aggressive game is well suited to the Twenty20 format. He can also fire in some flat left-arm spin to provide cover in case any of the frontline bowlers have an off day.Prime numbersGautam Gambhir has the second-highest winning percentage (61.11%) among IPL captains, just behind a surprisingly successful leader Yuvraj Singh (61.29%)
Yusuf Pathan has hit the second-highest number of sixes in IPL history, with 62The chatter”Rahul Dravid is hitting the ball very well and he gives us a lot of stability at the top. Siddharth Trivedi bowled well too and got a couple of nicks. Abhishek Raut was once again sensational in the field, saving at least 10-15 runs. Ross Taylor hit the ball beautifully and showed he’s in good touch.”
“We’re not here to compete. We’re here to win. We’ve got some world class players and once we’re there, we want to finish on a high note.”

Virender Sehwag, the India opener, has been named the Test Player of the Year during the 2010 ICC Awards ceremony in Bangalore

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Oct-2010Virender Sehwag, the India opener, has been named the Test Player of the Year during the 2010 ICC Awards ceremony in Bangalore. He won the award, the first of his career, ahead of Sachin Tendulkar, Dale Steyn and Hashim Amla, who were the other nominees in the category.”It’s fantastic to win the award, to take over the title from Gautam Gambhir,” Sehwag said after receiving the prize from Courtney Walsh. “I think I got motivated when Gambhir got this award last time, I was discussing with him that I hope I get it this time and I got it. I’m a huge fan of Test cricket and I love to play it more than Twenty20 or one-day cricket.”When I was growing up, I was playing lot of 10-over, 12-over games, so I had to score off every ball, same thing I have continued. I followed my instincts and played in the same way in T20, ODI and Tests. It’s a great strength to have.”Sehwag scored 1282 runs in ten Tests at an average of 85.46 between August 2009 and 2010, which was the period under consideration for the award. He was also named in the Test Team of the Year, which was captained by MS Dhoni.